In the dark light of a below ground space, a loads perfectly groomed young guys kneel in rows, calling out their names.
Muscle, with shiny boy-band hairstyles, they cram alongside right into the narrow room, waiting on us to make our selection. Outside in the hallway, more of their colleagues are arriving for an additional night at the workplace. It is 2am, and we are their first customers.
Hidden below the pavements of Seoul's ritziest postcode, Gangnam, the males at Bar 123 become part of a growing sector, which expanded out of the lengthy customs of Japanese geisha and Korea's kisaeng residences yet with one vital distinction - the consumers here are all ladies.
Referred to as "host bars", these all-night alcohol consumption areas provide women customers the chance to pay and pick for male friends, occasionally at a price of thousands of extra pounds an evening.
One of the women I satisfy at Bar 123 is Minkyoung, a waitressing manager for a luxury resort. As soon as or two times a month, she claims she comes to host bars.
The allure of host bars can be subtle. Here, she states, she has even more interest from her male friends, more choice and, crucially, more control.
PROMOTION
" In routine bars the individuals who consume with me have only one goal - to have a casual sex. I do not want that, so that's why I come below, I want to have enjoyable," she claims.
Hosts are worked with by bars such as this one to give friendship and also enjoyment. Formally that implies pouring drinks for their clients, dancing and talking with them, as well as singing karaoke.
Host bar in Seoul
Sex is not officially on deal in the majority of host bars. That would be prohibited however also Minkyoung seems satisfied to tease and also touch with her host, as well as the guys below estimate that around half the consumers wish to spend for sex, either on or off the facilities.
James has actually been operating at Bar 123 for a number of years. In Korean culture, he says, there is a great deal of pride and also working out a cost for sex is never done clearly. Instead, he informs me, it is all down to the host's own assessment.
" The individuals below are pros - we understand what we're doing," he claims.
" After speaking to a woman for a hr we generally understand exactly how much money she makes and also what she does for a living. We've currently analysed her individuality and also what she's ready to offer."
James and also other hosts say their consumers include a few of South Korea's elite, and that the money as well as perks on deal boggle the mind. One client James met, throughout his very first week in the job, asked him to authorize himself over to her for 2 years.
" She stated 'let's make a contract. I've got this paper and also I've numbered it 1-5. Whatever you list following to those numbers, I'll obtain you.'".
James says at the time he took it as a joke however given that learnt the same woman invested 60,000 ($ 97,000) on one more host.
" If it took place now, Iwould certainly do it - Iwould certainly be assuming straight.".
Actually perhaps, host bars outgrew one of Korea's most established as well as, some state, misogynist business customs - the space beauty salon. These are personal alcohol consumption spaces where teams of males select, as well as are served by, attractive female people hosting.
It was the people hosting' demand to let off steam after job, claims professional host Kim Dong-hee, that produced the initial demand for host bars, with all-male personnel.
These ladies are required to do points they do not desire to do for cash.
" I believe a great deal of them are in discomfort, and also a lot feel lonely. Just placed, they desire to buy our time and also our bodies.".
People hosting still comprise a large percent of the consumers at host bars here, yet at Bar 123, for instance, up to 40% of the consumers on an offered evening are currently from other walks of life.
The factors for that expanding appeal are locked up in South Korea's rapid economic rise. Within 50 years, the nation changed from post-war destruction to OECD member.
However, according to Jasper Kim, head of the Asia-Pacific Global Research Group in Seoul, something crucial was shed along the road.
" I think that with all this quick growth comes fast change, and Koreans simply don't know exactly how to deal with it. Significantly, commercialism is surpassing standard social norms that you would anticipate a number of years earlier.".
Jasper Kim states South Korea's notoriously lengthy functioning hrs have actually left many Korean ladies feeling lonesome, while the nation's technical development has actually left lots of people feeling separated.
" The human component of Korean culture that existed before merely does not exist today. Individuals are focused on modern technology, individuals are concentrated on their tasks, they aren't focused on human relations anymore.
" In several methods, Korean culture today kind of reminds me of 1960s society in the US, where it's on the verge of some kind of social revolution.".
The grandpa of Seoul's host bar scene, Kim Dong-hee, agrees that a lot of the females who come to host bars are not paying for sex but also for friendship, which is why he opened a brand-new chain of freshly-marketed electrical outlets intended at the mainstream market - called Red Model Bars.
Red Model Bar hosts.
Picture subtitle,.
Hosts at Red Model Bars can not touch customers.
" Men intend to have aesthetic satisfaction and also wish to feel things, they're tactile. Ladies like to talk and also to listen. And that's why I thought of opening a bar such as this - a sort of dialogue bar.".
Red Model Bars are different to typical host bars in one crucial regard - there is a no-touching rule. Hosts rest on one side of the table, clients on the various other, and no physical call is enabled, and certainly no sex.
Probably therefore there is a lack of furtiveness among the individuals who work or drink right here - the lights are reduced, the style mainly dark red and also the space is separated into very discreet booths, yet it is an open-plan room and also hosts as well as customers are separated in each booth by a large table.
This brand-new company version depends entirely on women paying the matching of hundreds and even countless bucks to talk with attractive boys over a drink. Still, it seems to be functioning - three brand-new branches are because of open this year.
Sitting at a table at one end of bench was just one of their normal customers, a floral designer called Kim Nayu. She informs me she comes below daily to satisfy her favorite host as well as talk about concerns she is contending work.
The rate for this piece of male attention is $487-650 ( 300-400) a day.
" Talking to friends would certainly be less costly" she admits, "yet they don't listen as much. They're busy, and in a rush to speak about themselves. Below, individuals will pay attention to me and also they'll listen to me.".
" I invest a great deal of cash yet it's worth it wherefore I obtain mentally. People pay to visit see a psycho therapist or psychoanalyst, so it's similar but much less demanding.".
Nayu's much-loved host Sung-il states it can be hard to maintain his personal and specialist life different.
" Honestly I 'd be existing if I state I haven't been tempted to take things better with some clients, because we're human, we're guys, but there are regulations.".
One of his consumers yapped to her husband concerning him and when the 3 of them met, Sung-il as well as the hubby ended up being buddies.
" No one hides - the workers do not conceal that they work right here, and customers can be open too.".
This visibility is presenting a new type of challenge to South Korean culture, different from the occasionally sleazy underworld of standard host bars as well as their hinterland of male hooking.
By providing females a "respectable" method to test traditional sex duties as well as bend their financial power, these brand-new bars ask questions of Korean society that are coming to be harder to ignore.
Listen to the full report on BBC Radio 4's Crossing Continents. You can listen via the Radio 4 website or using the Crossing Continents podcast.
The allure of host bars can be subtle. Here, she states, she has even more focus from her male buddies, even more choice as well as, crucially, more control.
James has been functioning at Bar 123 for a pair of years. Instead, he informs me, it is all down to the host's own evaluation.
And also that's why I thought of opening up a bar like this - a kind of discussion bar.".
